Route 20: A ride around Sorrento, Amalfi coast

The Amalfi coast has one of the most famous roads in Italy - for a very good reason

“Avoid the cities”, they said. “Don’t get sucked into the tourism hotspots”, they said. Well, Sorrento isn’t a city, though it is dangerously close to the traffic Armageddon of Naples. However it most definitely is a massive tourism honey-pot, attracting droves of visitors. But if the rule is to avoid places like that, this is the exception.

If you’re heading this way on a motorcycle, you need to approach riding the Amalfi Drive with some caution. Expect to see every kind of craziness, from scooter riders going three-up, or texting while riding, or overtaking on pavements, to buses cutting blind corners and donkeys wandering about. It doesn’t matter. It’s genuinely stunning - one of the most beautiful places you can ever ride a bike (cautiously). It doesn’t just live up to the hype: it exceeds it.

Still there’s only so much crazy you can cope with in one day, so after riding the spectacular coastline from Sorrento round to Salerno, our route loops up into the mountains, swings round in the shadow of Vesuvius, then returns to Sorrento. There’s loads to do off the bike as well - from visiting Pompeii (go on a coach, get a guide and allow a whole day) to taking a boat trip to Capri. Normally there are better alternatives to the well-trodden routes... but not here.

MAPS AND DOWNLOADS FOR A RIDE AROUND SORRENTO, AMALFI COAST

Map of a motorcycle route from Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Italyng

Route 1 (our route): start/finish: Sorrento. Distance: 180 miles. Riding time: 7 hours. Suggested stops: AM coffee: Vietri sul Mare, lunch: Montella, PM coffee: Montevirgine
Route one map, Route one GPX file

Route 2: Distance: 150 miles. Riding time: 7 hours. A shorter ride on smaller, slightly quieter roads, but returning to Sorrento on the Amalfi Drive
Route two map, Route two GPX file

Please note: This page contains the route files for The RiDE Guide to motorcycle touring in Italy which came free with RiDE magazine in July 2015. These website page are not regularly updated, so please check all critical information before you travel. All route files are in .gpx format. Garmin and BMW users can download the main file, which contains all the routes and our recommended hotels as separate waypoints. TomTom users can download the individual routes and use the Tyre software to convert them. For many routes we also have Google Map links. However, as Google Maps will not plot routes over seasonally closed high Alpine passes (such as Stelvio) when they’re shut, these may not work for every route all year round.